Chuckanut 50km

Chuckanut 50km was one of my bucket-list races. I've known about Chuckanut for as long as I've been running trail races (over 22 years, now), but for some reason never made it to the race before this year. My last few official races last year were a bit of a suffer-fest. I had been working on the mental aspect of racing over the past few years, but all that went out the door for several months. This winter, as I tried to ramp up my training, I seriously banged up my knee after a few bad falls within one week, was later hit with some nagging chronic injuries, then we got a blast of snow and ice that persisted an insane amount of time.  I knew Chuckanut would be a competitive race, so, especially with how the previous few months had been, I had no delusions about finishing on the podium, but I really wanted to have fun. 

After getting to the starting area early enough to make multiple bathroom stops and nervously wonder how late I could wait before taking off my warm cloths and putting them in the gear check area, I finally found myself at the starting line .... with around 400 other runners! (there were 442 who finished, but a decent sized group took the early start).

For the first 10km, Chuckanut heads south on the interurban trail - it's fairly pretty, wide enough for all us to sort ourselves out, and relatively flat. ...perhaps a bit too flat. I may have been a little too far up front, but I could not believe how many people flew past me.  My feet were actually pretty numb, so it would have been hard to run much faster if I'd wanted to, but I really didn't want to ... I knew better than to think I could "bank" time by running super fast at the beginning. A cautious approach seemed confirmed as the wise choice when I passed a man walking about 8km in, lamenting about blowing up a bit from going out too fast.  I had a bit of trail butter about 45 minutes in, then fueled up well at the aid station with coke, an oreo, and some peanut butter filled pretzels.

The middle 30km of Chuckanut is a bit of blur ... a beautiful, blissfull, happy blur. The trail wound through a beautiful forest, and more than once, I yelled out "it's sooo pretty!!!!" as I came to an opening in the woods to a view of the snowcapped Olympics over the Puget Sound under a sunny, blue sky.  I came into the aid station to discover that in addition to the normal aid station fare, they were making smoked salmon sushi rolls - OMG they tasted sooo good! I left happing chewing on my roll and drinking another cup of coke.

Snow on Cleater Rd. Picture credit: Chuckanut50km

Most of the next section was on Cleator Road. I'm sure under normal conditions (or if I were Hayden Hawks - he finished in 3 hr 33 min this year!), it would have been a nice fast section, but most of the road was covered with a few inches of uneven, slushy snow. I was happy, though, with the amount of traction I was able to get, and steadily made my way up to the ridge. 

Although it's pretty, the ridge was the worst section for me. I'm not good at technical trails, and I just really did not want to fall! Seriously, my knees don't need any more scar tissue. I just tried to relax, enjoy myself and take some solace that I was otherwise running well.

Turning onto North Lost Lake, we once again hit some snow.  I took the time to put my nanospikes on for this section. Although they're fairly easy to put on, it still too me longer than I'd have liked, and I had to stop to adjust them a few times as they started to shift out of place. So I'm not sure if they were worth putting on ... but then again I passed quite a few people on the section where I wore them, so maybe they were? At least I didn't feel like I'd carried them for 31 miles for nothing.

When I turned onto South Lost Lake, I fumbled a bit for some food - I knew I needed something, but was reluctant to open a gel - and ended up not pulling anything out. I rationalized waiting longer (really something I shouldn't let myself do) with telling myself I'd fuel up well at the next aid station. As I approached AS4, I could swear I smelled hot dogs ... then I got to the table to find that it was no hallucination - they really did have freshly cooked hotdogs - even veggie dogs! and ketchup and mustard to dip them in! I grabbed a piece, dipped it in as much ketchup as reasonable without making a huge mess, and thought I may have a new favorite race food. Pretty much every other runner who was at the aid station seemed to be having a similar reaction. With only a tiny bit of reservation from concerns about everything coming back up in the near future, I grabbed another piece of hot dog (again covered with as much ketchup as possible), grabbed a cup of coke, and quite happily headed up towards Chinscraper. 

Heading up Chinscraper

While Chinscraper lived up to its name I happily passed quite a few people on the way up. Givenhow little I'd been able to train for climbing in the past few months, thanks to late snow and ice, I was both surprised and happy with how strong I felt on the uphills. Soon enough we were headed back downhill - where more than one of the people I'd passed going up passed me back. 

I grabbed a last Oreo (covered in peanut butter) and cup of coke at the last aid station then was off for the last 10km back on the Interurban trail. I really wanted to finish under 6 hours, and looking at my watch it was probably not going to happen ... but might? If I ran really really hard? I decided to give it a shot. I could tell my legs weren't moving normally as I could hear my right foot slapping the ground a bit, but I was happily able to pick up some speed. I ran close to 8 minutes per mile for a few miles (!), but a slight hill brought my pace down, and I wasn't able to quite recover it for the the final few miles in. 

I crossed the line in 6 hours, 3 minutes, and 38 seconds, 42nd woman out of 164 and 5th in my age group, so not bad. Most importantly -- I had so much fun! I really did achieve my goal of having fun and enjoying the race. Every time I felt myself start furrow my brow, I reminded myself to smile and relax, and I'm confident that helped me have a better race. 

Thanks Krissy and all the volunteers for putting on an awesome race, The Queen for great coaching, and Squirrel's Nut Butter for keep me chafe free (no more yelps!).

Capital City Marathon 2018

When I started planning my races for this year, I had no doubt about wanting to run Capital City Marathon again. Last year, I had a magical day at this Marathon. I loved the course, running through farmland for the first half, then neighborhoods full of supportive, cheering people. It was a lovely, smaller, hometown event. Just that would have been enough to run the race again.

But part of my desire to run it again was to see if I could get even close to the pace I ran last year. I had trained well for the race, and was able to get into a really good mental place, but a part of me wondered if part of my great performance was because I was still benefiting from having lived and trained in Colorado for the previous 5 years? I'd been in Olympia for a little over a month by the time of the marathon, so most of the effects of living at elevation should have worn off, but even just a little boost could have made a difference.

My training for the race went pretty well, though the increase in road miles seemed to be aggravating all of my chronic nagging injuries.  Luckily, with some last minute massage/PT, and a few weeks of taper, my body felt ready to go. The weather on race day was great. A little cooler than last year, and with overcast skies for most of the morning. I had enough confidence to position myself near the front at the starting line – though did move a bit back when I discovered that the 3:15 pace group was behind me.

There was a little shuffling in the first mile, and I found myself heading up East Bay in 6th place. I struggled a bit settling into a good pace – finding it easier to go either quite a bit slower or quite a bit faster than my goal pace. I chose to go a bit faster, but paid attention to not let my heart rate get up too high.

There’s an over-all climb for the first 10 miles, but it actually feels more like a series of rollers. Like last year, I got into a good rhythm of drinking from my hand-held water bottle that was filled with Skratch drink mix between aid stations and having a bit of water at each station. Every four miles/30ish minutes, I ate a gel just before the aid station, chasing it with a cup of water.

While there were fewer people out on the first loop of the course, there were still some folks out cheering us on. Including some folks sitting on their front porches, enjoying their morning coffee and newspapers while occasionally glancing up and waving.  I was really enjoying myself and after about 5 miles, had moved up to  4th place.

Just after mile 8, we had a steep descent on Zangle Road. Although I tried to just let my legs quickly turn-over with the pull of gravity, the pounding and bit of breaking were a bit too much, and I felt my quads suddenly seize up. Crap. I considered pulling off to the side to stretch them out, but was afraid of losing momentum and making things worse. I told myself to just relax and to focus on the scenery and rhythm of running – instead of just my legs and luckily they started to loosen up again.

I had been running with a first time marathoner for about a mile when we caught up to 3^rd place woman near Woodard Bay. She had passed me in the first mile of the race, and she was still running with the man she’d been running with then. Apparently, the man was pacing her and they were aiming for a 3:20 finish. I hung with them a little, but felt like I was holding back a bit, so let myself pull ahead. I was now in 3^rd.

Admittedly, I looked over my shoulders quite a few times for the next few miles. One of my friends was at one of the intersections, and I thought she was indicating that there was a woman just behind me. Apparently, she was trying to tell me that I had pulled ahead even more. I tried to not speed up too much – there were still several miles left in the race but keeping at least 3^rd place was good incentive to keep my pace up.

At about mile 19, we finished the first loop and caught up with the back of the half marathon. While it was a little annoying to have to suddenly start dodging the large groups who were walking the half, it was also fun to be around so many people; and the walkers were super friendly and responsive to the half-out-of-breath runner calling out, “runner behind”, “runner on your left”, etc. There also started to be more spectators. Near Friendly Grove Park, a little girl held a flower out to me. I tried to grab it, but missed – I honestly considered going back to get it, it was such a sweet gesture, but at that point, my legs practically had a mind of their own. Forward. Just forward.

When I turned onto the long straight-away on Eastside, I finally caught a glimpse of the women’s pace car. It really wasn’t that far away. Half a mile – just under a mile at the most? But by this point, we only had about 4 miles left in the race, and that was a lot of distance to make up in just 4 miles. On the other hand, there were just 4 miles left, and I felt really comfortable with those last 4 miles, having run the course a few times in the past few months. I kept my pace up on the long Eastside climb, then picked the pace up even more on the short downhill following the crest of the hill.

At one point, there was a slow jogger taking up the narrow area we had to run in around a corner, and there was a volunteer standing just outside the corner. I called out to get the jogger’s attention, but she clearly couldn’t hear me over her earbuds. I started repeating “please move” – I thought under my breath, but apparently loud enough the volunteer scurried out of the way. I felt bad as she seemed to think I was irked at her. So to whomever that was – I’m sorry!

A little later on, I saw one of my program’s scientists who had retired just a few months ago and his wife – I yelled a hello and that it hurt, it really hurt! They just smiled, cheered me on, and took a few photos. In his email, John told me that it didn’t look like I was hurting, and in fact in one of the photos they took, both of my feet were in the air (I swear, I have at least one foot on the ground in almost all photos I have of myself when running), and at least I wasn’t scowling (I tend to look angry when I’m working hard).

Post-race smiles

Then, just before the last turn before the finish, I saw a coworker with whom I had run the Ragnar Relay with last year. She and her husband were out cheering people on with a “You can use our bathroom” sign on their front lawn. Awesome.

Final turn, and I was on the nearly straight mile to the finish. I couldn’t see the pace car and didn’t know where the 2^nd place woman was, but still tried to turn up the pace just a little more. As I approached the finish, I heard the announcer say, “and rounding out the women’s podium, we have Andrea Thorpe in 3^rd place, from Louisville, Colorado”. …. Yay! That’s me! …but not Colorado!!!! WTF?!?!? My registration from this year clearly said Olympia!

1st Masters Woman!

Regardless – it was an awesome race. I finished in 3:21:06, a 7:43 pace, and a new marathon PR (by 1 minute and 49 seconds). I was the 3^rd woman again this year – but this year, I was the first woman over 40 to finish, so won the woman’s Masters division. …and all of that on my 42^nd Birthday!

Thanks to Coach Meghan for the awesome encouragement and mentoring, Squirrel’s Nut Butter for keeping me yelp free, and friends and family for the comradery and support!

-->

Javelina Jundred 2017

My running season was supposed to peak with Pine to Palm 100 (P2P) the end of September. The timing worked out really well - Ross and I recently bought a house in Olympia that in many ways is our dream home, but is also an older home in need of a decent amount of work. The plan was to run P2P, then focus on getting the house ready for winter. Then the fires hit ... between horrendous air quality and the need to reroute the race, Hal (the race director) cancelled P2P this year. I totally supported his decision - those fighting the fires didn't need to add a bunch of crazy runners to their list of logistical hurdles. I also knew that if the race had been held in those conditions, my asthmatic lungs likely wouldn't have been able to handle the smoke.

While I supported the decision, it also introduced a new dilemma. P2P was supposed to be my Western States qualifier and there were few races left in the year that were on the qualifying list. I also really didn’t have a whole lot of time to keep training at the level needed for a 100 miler. After way too long debating my relatively few options, I realized that best was the one I was illogically avoiding -  going back to Javelina.

Besides still being open for entries, I know the race – I’ve figured out the logistics for the area, and I’m really familiar with the course. Since it’s relatively flat, it also allowed me to focus a bit less on spending a lot of time running hills, like I would for most other long ultras.

Meghan helped me put together a training plan that accommodated my life’s other obligations. I had two longer speed workouts each week (total run distance of 10-12 miles each). I ran my long runs on Tuesdays after work – because of the limited time, these ended up being mostly on roads, but I did try to get in as many hills as I could. These runs were usually after riding my bike to and from work, and using my standing desk all day; I figured it improved the training quality running on fatigued legs. My weekends were spent sanding, painting, and doing other work on the house (and fitting in shorter runs when possible) - maybe not aerobic, but certainly endurance-building. Over-all, the training went pretty well, though I’ll admit I really missed my long Saturday runs in the woods.

Enjoying the desert the day before the race

Come race morning, I was a bit more nervous than normal, especially given my slightly unconventional training. I told myself that there was no need to finish under 24, all I needed to do was finish under 30 hours, which I knew I could do. Though, I still really wanted to finish under 24 hours.

The race started pretty slowly – not unexpectedly given the hundreds of runners trying to fit on a narrow single track trail. The pace picked after we turned onto the wider double-track, and I settled into an easy rhythm. The sun came up fairly quickly over the dessert, and I allowed myself a moment to take a quick photo of the sunrise. I tried to keep my pace really easy, knowing it was way too easy to go out fast on this course. I was wearing my hot-weather clothing, and by Jackass Junction, started what would become my routine at nearly every aid-station I hit during the day: soak my cotton t-shirt in a bucket of ice water, sponge ice water over my head, and add a hand-full of ice to the bandana I wore around my neck. I was able to eat pretty well, and was getting 100-200 calories per hour. Best of all, I was actually enjoying myself.

Enjoying the sunrise

Loop 1: 4:10:21

Loop 2 is where I started to notice a few things were just a bit off for the day. My stomach was definitely off - despite taking an Imodium before the start of the race, it still didn't seem to be processing food correctly, and I had to make several pit stops. I also randomly forgot to do things at aid stations – I forgot to refill my water-bottle at one (I kept a bladder of electrolyte drink in my Camelback, and carried a small bottle of plain water in one of my pack’s front pockets – the water was good for both drinking and dousing my head between aid stations), and skipped sponging down my head at another (sounds minor, but made a big difference in how I felt). Worse of all, I realized that because I'd set my Suunto GPS watch on the lowest accuracy setting in order to have the longest battery life, my watch was doing a horrible job calculating my distance and pace; and at some point, I bumped one of the buttons and accidentally turned my watch off for 20 minutes or so. That all meant that I only had a vague idea of how fast I was running and how long I'd been running for. I tried to tell myself it was all okay, because I really just needed to finish under 30 hours, and I was certainly under that pace, but I couldn't help it - I knew I was capable of sub-24 and so I spent the rest of the race obsessively trying to calculate my pace and splits (which became harder and harder to do as the long hours on the trail took their toll on my ability to do even the most basic math).

Loop 2: 8:15:14 (4:05 for the loop)

Heading into Jeadquarters after loop 2, I knew I need to do a bit more to take care of myself before heading out for loop 3. To deal with some hot spots that were threatening to become blisters, I took the time to change socks and apply Squirrel's Nut Butter to the my feet. I’d brought a larger pair of shoes to change into, but my feet weren't as swollen as I’d expected, so I decided to not change shoes. Happily, the care I took with my feet paid off – I ended up with only tiny blisters under my big toes at the end of the race … a HUGE improvement over previous years (both here at Javelina and at other long races). I also took another Immodium, hoping that would fix my intestinal issues.

Happy runner as the sun starts getting lower in the sky.

I actually felt pretty positive heading into loop 3. Although it was hot at the start of the loop, I was staying pretty cool. My feet felt quite a bit better with the fresh socks and SNB. I was also still able to eat fairly well, so felt good about my caloric intake. Soon enough, the soon was getting lower in the sky, the temperatures started to cool off, and the stars came out in the desert. So pretty. I joined the coyotes in howling at the moon.

Loop 3: 12:43:55 (4:29 for the loop)

Back at Jeadquarters between loops 3 and 4, I changed out of my cotton t-shirt into my clean and dry Squirrel's Nut Butter shirt (seriously, that stuff rocks – enough that I’m more than happy to advertise for them). I tied my arm warmers, to my pack, switched from my hat to a buff, and put on my waist light. I don’t remember spending a lot of time at the aid station, but must have been there quite awhile – I crossed the timing mat around 12:44, but heard them announcing the front runner approaching at a record setting pace. Reagan Patrick ended up finishing in 13 hours and 1 minute – did I really spend nearly 15 minutes in the aid station???? …and seriously, he finished 100 miles in just over 13 hours ??!!?? I can’t even imagine maintaining that pace for that long.

I felt a bit low heading back into the night, so gave Ross a call as I walked up the trail, sipping on my cup of soup. Ross encouragingly told me that I was probably feeling a bit off because it had been so hot, and I'd likely feel better as the night cooled off. I started slowly jogging along as we talked, and yes, I started to feel a bit better. 

Unfortunately, the improvement only lasted for a few miles. I started having difficulty getting food down during the hike and jog up to Jackass Junction (the midway aid station). Instead of eating about 100 calories every 1/2 an hour, I started either taking small “sips” from a gel or eating one energy chew every 10 – 15 minutes. My other stomach issues still had not resolved, so I took my 3^rd Imodium for the day at Jackass. I also tried to eat just about every on the table at Jackass – and spat most of it out when it made my stomach lurch. Luckily, I could drink coke and eat a bit of ramen. I spent a lot of the rest of the loop obsessing over time – I still felt like I didn’t have a good sense of how well I was running.

Loop 4: 17:56:11 (5:13 for the loop)

Back at Jeadquarters, I tried to find something at the aid station that looked good to eat. Previously I’d downed a San Pellegrino each time I came through Jeadquarters (I find them super easy to drink and so an easy way to get both hydration and calories), but this time I skipped drinking my San Pellegrino, opting instead for a few cups of coke. Soda became my main source of calories the remainder of the race.

I would love to say I rallied for the last lap, and headed out of Jeadquarters at least at a slow jog. Instead, I found myself walking, telling myself I’d start running again on the downhill after Jackass. But once through Jackass, it felt like every time I tried to start running, my legs sent back a clear signal that no, they really did not want to run. I tried to power walk – and it turns out they weren’t too happy doing that, either. So I settled on simply walking. That wasn’t such a great solution either, though. The night had cooled off significantly, and my arm warmers weren’t enough to keep me warm at the slow pace. Worse yet, I let myself mentally indulge in negativity.

I was in such a bad, negative spiral. I started thinking about the possibility of sitting at the next aid station for awhile, trying to warm up. I knew it was only a few miles to the finish from there, but didn’t remember quite how far, and at my pace, even just a few miles would take forever. I recalled Stephanie Howe retelling how, as she was struggling at last year’s Western States, her husband, Zach, told her it was a nice night for a moonlit walk. I tried to embrace that attitude, and yes, it was a nice night, but I was tired and cold ….

And then a train of three men came behind me … “come one, sub-24! Join us! We’re running a minute, walking a minute! Join us!” I mumbled back that I didn’t think I could, but when they started to run on their next interval, I tried to join them. I couldn’t keep up. However, I found that while I couldn’t match their running pace after walking, once I kept running to try to catch back up to them, it felt good to just keep running. Instead of walking during the next walk interval, I just kept running.

Soon enough, I found that not only was I able to keep running, but I was running faster than the men who had been my inspiration to start moving again. As I passed them, I thanked them for giving me the much needed kick in the ass.

I tried to get through the last aid station as fast as possible. Another stop in the porta-potty, a quick cup of coke, then back down the trail. I still felt like I was running well. This certainly wasn’t my 2^nd wind … more like my 10^th … 20^th? Whatever. My mind had switched to “just keep running”.

3rd sub-24 finish at Javelina!

I only really slowed down twice in the last 6 or 7 miles; once when I hit a soft sandy wash, followed by a decent uphill, and another time when I didn’t recognize the trail and worried that I’d gone off course. But those were minor blips, and soon enough, I was back in Jeadquarters, crossing the finish line in 23 hours, 26 minutes, and 56 seconds (21st woman!).

In hindsight, there were a few critical areas where I messed up a bit…

1.    While I still think it’s good to have a few different levels of goals for a race, I went into this one almost convincing myself that I’d only be hitting my slowest, “c” goal. I should have believed more in myself and my training.

2.    Crew and/or a pacer would have really helped. Other than my one call to Ross, I didn’t have anyone to help me problem solve or pull me out of my negative spin.

3.    When I started struggling, I concluded my race was over. If I’d followed the advice I’ve given others in the past, I would have taken the time to figure out what was wrong and do what needed to be done to recover. In some respects, that’s what my long period of walking was … I think it gave my legs a chance to recover a bit, thus enabling my ability to run the last several miles.

To give myself credit, there were a few areas I did get right…

1.    I applied Squirrel’s Nut Butter anywhere I could potentially chafe and reapplied – and had no problems. Such a hug different compared to my experience with other products.

2.    Clothing – wearing a cotton shirt during the day definitely helped keep me cool and it felt great changing into a clean and dry shirt at night.

3.    Carrying both electrolytes and water. Having plain water was great for cooling off, rinsing my face, and getting a break from all the sweet liquids and foods.

4.    My feet – Before the face, I filed down my big toe nails, and taped my big toes. During the race, I wore a thinner pair of injijis, then ½ ways through, lubed my feet and changed socks. I ended up with only small blisters under my big toenails – a huge improvement compared to long races in the past.

Huge thanks to coach Meghan for the awesome advice, Ross for putting up with my crazy and the encouragement when I really needed it, and Squirrel’s Nut Butter for making an amazing product.